March 4, 2021 - On Wednesday President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. released a statement on 2021 Special Health Insurance Enrollment Period coverage progress. In the first two weeks of opening HealthCare.gov for three months, more than 200,000 Americans have gotten covered.
Health care is a right, not a privilege — and ensuring that every single American has access to the quality, affordable health care they need is a 
national imperative. Never has that been more important than today, in the midst of a deadly pandemic that has infected nearly 30 million Americans.
On February 15, my administration opened HealthCare.gov for three months to provide all Americans the opportunity to sign up for health insurance through a special enrollment period. In the two weeks since, more than 200,000 Americans have gotten covered. These numbers are an encouraging sign — but we can’t slow down until every American has the security and peace of mind that quality, affordable health coverage provides.
There is plenty of time left to sign up, and I encourage everyone who needs health insurance to go to HealthCare.gov before May 15. If you already have coverage, you can help family members and friends who are uninsured get themselves covered.
Getting more Americans covered is an important part of the equation — but we also need to lower health costs. Last week, the House of Representatives passed my American Rescue Plan, which includes big steps to drive down people’s premiums and expand access to care for all Americans, including those who have lost their employer plans. This plan will increase federal subsidies and decrease premiums in order to ensure that no one ever pays more than 8.5 percent of their income on health coverage — though most Americans will pay far less. And it incentivizes states to expand coverage to an additional four million people with low incomes, and extend coverage for a year to low-income women who have recently given birth.
The American Rescue Plan is essential to defeating the pandemic — allowing us to ramp up testing, tracing, and our national vaccination program to get shots into as many arms as possible as quickly as we can. But it also lays an important foundation for better health, a stronger economy, and peace of mind for more Americans as we come out of the crisis and build back better. The American people have united in historic numbers around this plan — Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Now, it is up to the Senate to hear them, and act quickly to pass the bill.
Source: Office of the White House
February 15 – February 28, 2021
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) report that more than 206,000 Americans signed up for health insurance plans during the first two weeks of the 2021 Marketplace Special Enrollment Period (SEP) for consumers in HealthCare.gov States.
The number of new plan selections from the start of the SEP opportunity on February 15 through February 28 represents an increase from 76,000 and 60,000 consumers signing up for health insurance during the same period in 2020 and 2019, respectively.[1] In previous years, SEPs were available only for qualifying life events, whereas this year the Biden-Harris Administration opened an SEP to all Americans in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.
CMS plans to release a report on new plan selections for each month of the 2021 SEP. New plan selections are a count of unique consumers who didn’t have an active Marketplace plan as of February 14 and made a plan selection on or after February 15.
Definitions and details on the data are included in the glossary at the end of the report.
|
Plan Selection and Application Activity |
Feb. 15-28, 2021 |
|
New Plan Selections |
206,236 |
|
New Consumers Requesting Coverage on an Application Submitted on or after February 15 |
385,864 |
|
Marketplace Eligible |
330,473 |
|
Medicaid/CHIP Eligible |
54,434 |
|
Call Center and Website Activity |
Feb. 15-28, 2021 |
|
Call Center Volume |
497,579 |
|
Calls with Spanish-Speaking Representative |
69,882 |
|
HealthCare.gov Users |
3,109,862 |
|
Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users |
160,772 |
|
CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users |
134,817 |
|
Window Shopping CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users |
9,308 |
|
New Plan Selections by State |
Feb. 15-28, 2021 |
Feb. 15-29, 2020 |
Feb. 15-28, 2019 |
|
Alaska |
432 |
143 |
132 |
|
Alabama |
4,226 |
1,062 |
963 |
|
Arkansas |
1,461 |
733 |
649 |
|
Arizona |
3,773 |
1,470 |
1,340 |
|
Delaware |
561 |
310 |
211 |
|
Florida |
61,737 |
22,872 |
16,188 |
|
Georgia |
16,636 |
3,926 |
3,042 |
|
Hawaii |
515 |
198 |
199 |
|
Iowa |
1,436 |
781 |
591 |
|
Illinois |
5,381 |
2,558 |
2,306 |
|
Indiana |
2,493 |
1,291 |
1,278 |
|
Kansas |
1,834 |
820 |
672 |
|
Kentucky |
1,407 |
1,273 |
981 |
|
Louisiana |
1,743 |
816 |
769 |
|
Maine |
880 |
498 |
406 |
|
Michigan |
4,795 |
2,406 |
2,162 |
|
Missouri |
4,875 |
1,534 |
1,275 |
|
Mississippi |
2,790 |
706 |
581 |
|
Montana |
646 |
483 |
289 |
|
North Carolina |
13,208 |
3,817 |
3,575 |
|
North Dakota |
467 |
226 |
203 |
|
Nebraska |
1,397 |
743 |
692 |
|
New Hampshire |
939 |
367 |
429 |
|
New Mexico |
825 |
327 |
340 |
|
Ohio |
4,432 |
2,398 |
1,631 |
|
Oklahoma |
3,796 |
1,737 |
1,398 |
|
Oregon |
1,994 |
1,313 |
1,263 |
|
South Carolina |
6,104 |
1,330 |
1,108 |
|
South Dakota |
706 |
228 |
216 |
|
Tennessee |
5,623 |
1,696 |
1,214 |
|
Texas |
34,682 |
11,674 |
7,838 |
|
Utah |
4,427 |
1,872 |
1,627 |
|
Virginia |
5,954 |
2,146 |
2,130 |
|
Wisconsin |
3,045 |
1,877 |
1,777 |
|
West Virginia |
433 |
200 |
221 |
|
Wyoming |
583 |
214 |
211 |
Glossary
New Plan Selections: The number of unique consumers who didn’t have an active enrollment as of February 14, and made a plan selection on or after February 15, that is active as of the end of the reporting period. An active plan selection is one that is non-cancelled with an end date of December 31. While this plan selection metric is net of cancellations and terminations that occur during the reporting period, it doesn’t represent effectuated enrollments because reconciliation activity may continue in later periods.
HealthCare.gov States: This report refers to the 36 Marketplace states that use the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2021 coverage year. The 36 states for 2021include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
New Consumers Requesting Coverage on an Application Submitted on or after February 15: The number of unique consumers who submitted an application and are requesting coverage on or after February 15, and didn’t have an active enrollment as of February 14. If determined eligible for Marketplace coverage, a consumer still needs to pick a health plan (i.e., plan selection) and pay their premium to have coverage (i.e., effectuate enrollment).
Marketplace Eligible: The number of unique new consumers requesting coverage on an application submitted on or after February 15 who are determined eligible to enroll in a Marketplace health plan, regardless of whether they applied for or are eligible for financial assistance.
Medicaid/CHIP Eligible: The number of unique new consumers requesting coverage on an application submitted on or after February 15 who are assessed or determined eligible for enrollment in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
Call Center Volume: The total number of calls received by the Marketplace call center, which supports HealthCare.gov, over the course of the reporting period. Calls with Spanish-speaking representatives aren’t included.
Calls with Spanish-Speaking Representative: The total number of calls received by the Marketplace call center, which supports HealthCare.gov, where consumers chose to speak with a Spanish-speaking representative over the course of the reporting period. These calls aren’t included in the Call Center Volume metric.
HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users viewed or interacted with HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of the reporting period.
Window Shopping HealthCare.gov Users or CuidadoDeSalud.gov Users: These user metrics total how many unique users interacted with the window-shopping tool at HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov, respectively, over the course of the reporting period. Users who window-shopped are also included in the HealthCare.gov or CuidadoDeSalud.gov user total.
Source: CMS